But I found a bit on the espn site about Grinch's impact on the defense. I found these two paragraphs to be particularly noteworthy:
Grinch maintains that this early improvement is more firmly rooted in an emphasis on fundamentals than it is in his tweaks to the scheme. He spent his first 15 practices on the new job hammering home basic concepts -- "you almost try to brainwash the guys to understand what good defensive football is," he said -- in an attempt to derail the locomotive of Washington State's 2014 mistake train. The Cougars are coming off a season in which they allowed 58 pass plays of 20 yards or more, the third most in the nation.
"I take a pitcher's approach to defensive football," Grinch said. "No matter what pitches you throw, if you hit your spots, you have a chance to be successful. As long as you're playing with the right fundamentals -- gap integrity, leveraging the football on the perimeter, making sure 5-yard gains don't turn into 50-yard gains, pressuring the quarterback, making him throw underneath -- if you're doing those things, you have a chance to be successful."
Now, if that actually translates onto the field over the course of next season I'll be a supremely happy guy. It'd be a nice change of pace.
Grinch maintains that this early improvement is more firmly rooted in an emphasis on fundamentals than it is in his tweaks to the scheme. He spent his first 15 practices on the new job hammering home basic concepts -- "you almost try to brainwash the guys to understand what good defensive football is," he said -- in an attempt to derail the locomotive of Washington State's 2014 mistake train. The Cougars are coming off a season in which they allowed 58 pass plays of 20 yards or more, the third most in the nation.
"I take a pitcher's approach to defensive football," Grinch said. "No matter what pitches you throw, if you hit your spots, you have a chance to be successful. As long as you're playing with the right fundamentals -- gap integrity, leveraging the football on the perimeter, making sure 5-yard gains don't turn into 50-yard gains, pressuring the quarterback, making him throw underneath -- if you're doing those things, you have a chance to be successful."
Now, if that actually translates onto the field over the course of next season I'll be a supremely happy guy. It'd be a nice change of pace.
